1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic memory systems, and especially to a system and method for securely storing electronic data in a memory.
2. Description of the Related Art
A traditional storage medium in a computer system is the hard disk. More recently, hard disks have begun to be replaced by non-volatile semiconductor memories. An array of non-volatile random-access memories (NVRAMs) or non-volatile flash memories can substitute for hard-disk memory storage. The memory devices use electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) technology for storage cells. Floating polysilicon gates in these storage cells remain charged and intact when power is lost, providing non-volatile storage. These flash-memory systems are frequently used as a mass-storage replacement for a hard disk of a personal computer. Although these memories can store data when power is lost or when operation of the computer is improper, the correct data in a memory may be overlaid. In other words, there is no guarantee that the data stored is correct.
The art of memory storage has been described in publications such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,754,566 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Correcting a Multilevel Cell Memory by Using Interleaving” and issued on Mar. 19, 1998. This patent provides an apparatus and method for correcting errors in multilevel cell memory. The multilevel cell memory comprises multilevel cells for storing two or more data bits, with the data bits being sorted into two or more data words. Error correction codes are generated for each of the two or more data words, and are provided for checking for errors in the data words, and for correcting any errors found. However, operating the method in the memories expends considerable time and resources. In addition, the accuracy of error checking and error correcting is not high. Accordingly, what is needed is a system and method for securely storing data in a memory which can overcome the above-described problems of unwieldiness and inexactness.